from where i standhttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com
Fri, 18 Aug 2017 04:55:02 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngfrom where i standhttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com
NC will no longer defend gay marriage banhttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/nc-will-no-longer-defend-gay-marriage-ban/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/nc-will-no-longer-defend-gay-marriage-ban/#commentsTue, 29 Jul 2014 20:04:31 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/29/nc-will-no-longer-defend-gay-marriage-ban/]]>North Carolina’s attorney general said Monday that the state would stop defending its same-sex marriage ban against legal challenges, just hours after a federal appeals court ruled that a similar ban in Virginia is unconstitutional.

“Simply put, it is time to stop making arguments we will lose and instead move forward, knowing that the ultimate resolution will likely come from the U.S. Supreme Court,” Atty. Gen. Roy Cooper said.

The ban, known as Amendment One, passed with 61 percent of the vote in 2012. The highly restrictive law defined marriage as the legal union of a man and woman, and also banned civil unions and domestic partnerships for gay and straight couples.

Four pending cases challenge the ban, which is similar to Virginia’s, Cooper said. “I think those plaintiffs will go forward and try to have the district judges rule in their favor, and invalidate that ban,” said Professor Carl Tobias, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Richmond. “Then at least that will be on the record.”

Monday’s ruling did not automatically stay the decision. Tobias says it’s likely clerks in Virginia will seek, and be granted, a stay while they appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the stay is not granted, however, Tobias says it could leave officials in those states in a “legal limbo” over whether or not they can issue marriage licenses in the meantime.

Chris Brook, legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina, which is representing nine couples in two of the North Carolina cases, called Monday’s decision a victory, and said his clients planned to push forward with their cases on the district court level.

“State marriage bans, such as the one we have here in North Carolina, are living on borrowed time,” Brook said. “It’s a matter of when — not if — they are struck down.”

He said Cooper’s announcement only underscores the recent and continuing string of legal victories for same-sex marriage advocates.

“At a certain point, a good lawyer knows a losing cause when he sees one,” Brook said.

A 2012 study published in World Development, “Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking?” investigates the effects legalized prostitution in high-income countries has on human trafficking. Seo-Yeong Cho, a researcher from the German Institute for Economic Research, and Axel Dreher, of the University of Heidelberg and Eric Neumayer of the London School of Economics and Political Science, analyzed data from 116 countries to determine the effect of legalized prostitution on human trafficking inflows. In addition, they reviewed case studies of Denmark, Germany and Switzerland to examine the long-term effects of both legalizing or criminalizing prostitution.

Of the findings discussed in the article by Carol Tan , two of them seem to be the most interesting. The first being that while trafficking inflows are lower where prostitution is criminalized, there are severe repercussions for those working in the industry. Criminalizing prostitution penalizes sex workers rather than the pimps and traffickers who are the ones who earn most of the profits.

Secondly, the likely negative consequences of legalized prostitution on a country’s inflows of human trafficking might be seen to support those who argue in favor of banning prostitution. When prostitution is not legal, the flow of trafficking is reduced. However, that argument overlooks potential benefits that the legalization of prostitution might have on those employed in the industry. Working conditions could be substantially improved for prostitutes — at least those legally employed — if prostitution is legalized. Prohibiting prostitution also raises tricky freedom of choice issues concerning both the potential suppliers and clients of prostitution services.

]]>https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/does-more-sex-workers-means-less-victims/feed/1waltersvaPolice involved in sex worker social media shaminghttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/police-involved-in-sex-worker-social-media-shaming/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/police-involved-in-sex-worker-social-media-shaming/#respondFri, 25 Jul 2014 03:15:31 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/police-involved-in-sex-worker-social-media-shaming/]]>Maryland’s Prince George’s Police Department has decided to live-tweet a prostitution sting operation. The PGPD, which covers part of the area surrounding Washington, DC, announced on Twitter, Facebook, and its blog that it would be holding a sting and tweeting photos during the arrests.

It’s questionable how much can be gained by these shaming tactics. Heavy-handed police action can just make sex workers more vulnerable, either by forcing them into unsafe conditions or undermining efforts to provide rehabilitation services for people who need them. UK police, for example, are rethinking the effectiveness of high-profile brothel raids, and New York is attempting to stop police from treating carrying condoms as evidence of prostitution. The fact that much sex work exists on the margins of society is exactly why campaigns like this can be carried out: it’s easier to gawk if we see the people involved as somehow not like the rest of us.

The response online hasn’t been particularly positive. The whole thing has been decried on Twitter as a cruel publicity stunt, with critics taking up the police-provided #PGPDVice hashtag. The police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is disgusting and dangerous. Full service sex workers already face a huge amount of stigma as well as potential for violence because of their jobs. Publicly naming and shaming them isn’t going to have any positive effect, it will only make it harder for them to leave the industry and more dangerous for them to stay in it. Full service sex workers need safety, resources, and respect.

]]>https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/police-involved-in-sex-worker-social-media-shaming/feed/0waltersvaNew rules for newspapershttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/new-rules-for-newspapers/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/new-rules-for-newspapers/#respondWed, 23 Jul 2014 15:04:00 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/?p=42]]>In the article “New rules for newspapers” published by Brass Tacks Designs, writer Alan Jacobson hits the nail on the head eight times out of nine. Though Jacobson is pretty spot on there are only two rules that I feel strongly about.

The first of Jacobson’s rules to save the newspaper urges newspapers to “get real about the internet.” In this day and age where everything is accessible online, newspapers need to understand what a threat the internet is for the print business. While many share the attitude of the former Christian Science Monitor editor John Hughes, holding the belief that newspaper will always be around because they’ve previously adapted to changing times, Jacobson simply retorts “Wishing won’t make it so.”

To put this even more into perspective Jacobson goes on to say of the internet subversiveness “it provides everyone with a powerful publishing technology. It’s not merely a new way to publish – it’s the democratization of publishing. Freedom of the press no longer belongs to those who own one.”

Jacobson’s third rule incites newspapers to forget about their loyal readers and “start with the low-hanging fruit” or pass-along readers and single-copy purchasers. By switching the focus to a new demographic, the paper will no doubt expand their reader base. People who typically might not have the time or the attention span to read a full fledged newspaper, might feel more at ease with a single copy edition.

Though I can understand the allure of a redesign and a new readership, I don’t think that it’s necessary to completely forget the loyal readers entirely. There is a way to cater to both demographics without hindering your relationship with either. My suggestion is to add new and innovative features for the casual reading crowd, but keep your main articles consistent with the tastes of your loyal readers. While one could argue that loyal readers are just that — loyal — they won’t stick around if they don’t recognize what they’re reading any longer.

]]>https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/new-rules-for-newspapers/feed/0waltersvaHIV diagnosis rate fell by third in US over decadehttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/hiv-diagnosis-rate-fell-by-third-in-us-over-decade/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/hiv-diagnosis-rate-fell-by-third-in-us-over-decade/#respondMon, 21 Jul 2014 00:56:32 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/?p=38]]>The rate of HIV infections diagnosed in the United States each year decreased by one-third over the past decade, a government study finds. Experts hailed it as hopeful news that the AIDS epidemic may be slowing down in the U.S.

The study is based on HIV diagnoses from all 50 states’ health departments, which get test results from doctors’ office, clinics, hospitals and laboratories. The data span ten years, making this a larger and lengthier look at these trends than any previous study, said another study author, Amy Lansky of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although experts say reasons for the US decline in infections are unknown, it is in line with a global downturn in the Aids epidemic. Last week, the United Nations said that there were 2.1 million new HIV infections worldwide in 2013, down 38% from 2001.

]]>https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/hiv-diagnosis-rate-fell-by-third-in-us-over-decade/feed/0waltersvaMore women in technology fieldshttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/more-women-in-technology-fields/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/more-women-in-technology-fields/#commentsSun, 20 Jul 2014 00:24:54 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/?p=32]]>According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only 18 percent of computer science graduates in the United States are women. However, it appears that this number will see a steady increase in the near future.

“At Carnegie Mellon University, 40 percent of incoming freshmen to the School of Computer Science are women, the largest group ever,” New York Times writer Claire Cain Miller reports. “At the University of Washington, another technology powerhouse, women earned 30 percent of computer science degrees this year. At Harvey Mudd College, 40 percent of computer science majors are women, and this year, women represented more than half of the engineering graduates for the first time.”

What is the cause for this increase? Some universities have taken a new approach to both how and whom they recruit. At Harvey Mudd, they’ve revised the recruiting brochures to show photos of women, and have hired women as campus tour guides. “We made it very clear that being a female scientist, that’s normal,” Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd.

While Harvey Mudd and University of Washington revamped their introductory courses, Carnegie Mellon University isn’t going to make any adjustments. “We saw some women like applications and some guys like applications and some dream in code, but most people have a mix,” Lenore Blum, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon said. “So we’re saying very strongly we’re not changing our curriculum; we don’t do anything special for women.”

]]>https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/more-women-in-technology-fields/feed/1waltersvaProtests spread nationwidehttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/protests-spread-nationwide/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/protests-spread-nationwide/#commentsFri, 18 Jul 2014 03:01:44 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/?p=24]]>Tens of thousands of migrant children who’ve fled Central America have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. The situation is a complex one which has caused people who consider the recent influx of child refugees a threat to the America’s identity.

Mirroring Murrieta, Calif., the city where all these recent protests against child migrants began, hundreds of U.S. sites are set for anti-immigration demonstrations today and tomorrow, Saturday, July 19. The protests are being advertised as: “The National Day of Protest Against Immigration Reform, Amnesty and Border Surge.” The protests are organized in alliance with tea party groups and Americans for Legal Immigration Pac (ALIPAC), an anti-immigration organization. More than 45 are planned to take place across California alone.

]]>https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/protests-spread-nationwide/feed/2waltersvaNPR: Planet Money’s most and least lucrative college majorshttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/npr-planet-moneys-most-and-least-lucrative-college-majors/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/npr-planet-moneys-most-and-least-lucrative-college-majors/#commentsSat, 12 Jul 2014 03:57:12 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/?p=34]]>In the NPR podcast from Planet Money, the most (and least) lucrative college majors were discussed and I can’t say that it surprised me which career fields fell where they did.

Technology fields, such as health sciences and computer sciences, were at the top of the pyramid as per usual, while social sciences and the arts fell at the bottom.

“How important is your major? It’s even more important than the school you go to,” says Planet Money correspondent Lisa Chow. An economist at Georgetown University goes on to support this by saying “If you go to Harvard and pay all that money and become a school teacher, you won’t be earning more than other school teachers.”

That begs the question, what is the end goal of college? I think that that is a question for personal reflection. For me, it has always been about the experience and the opportunities that college would offer me, not the money that I will make afterward. It is because of this that my decision to major in English was one that was made effortlessly. I chose a path that would lead me to something I love.

As in every case, there are people who defy the odds. However, while there are those stand outs that did not study science and technology majors and have made fortunes, most of us are the rule, not the exception.

Reflexively calling women “crazy” is a habit men need to learn to break. As a term, crazy reinforces the long and nasty tradition of pathologizing female emotion. Crazy has been a gendered trait in western culture for thousands of years. Hysteria, after all, comes from the Greek word for uterus.

In a recent article published in The Washington Post dating coach Harris O’Malley says “it’s a form of gas-lighting — telling women that their feelings are just wrong, that they don’t have the right to feel the way that they do.” O’Malley goes on to speak about the effect this has on individuals who are referred to in this manner “minimizing somebody else’s feelings is a way of controlling them. If they no longer trust their own feelings and instincts, they come to rely on someone else to tell them how they’re supposed to feel.”

Our society has allowed us to make off-handed comments not realizing the effect that those words have. In truth I’m not sure that men fully understand what they are saying when they call a woman crazy, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still consequences.

Calling a woman crazy is emotional manipulation in respects the woman, but it’s also ableist. O’Malley sums this up perfectly when he says “not only does it stigmatize people who have legitimate mental health issues, but it tells women that they don’t understand their own emotions, that their very real concerns and issues are secondary to men’s comfort. And it absolves men from having to take responsibility for how [men] make others feel.”

]]>https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/stop-calling-women-crazy/feed/0waltersvaApology to gay teacher once firedhttps://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/apology-to-gay-teacher-once-fired/
https://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/apology-to-gay-teacher-once-fired/#respondThu, 10 Jul 2014 03:52:22 +0000http://victoriaalexandrawalters.wordpress.com/?p=16]]>Back in 1972, James Gaylord was fired from his job as a social studies teacher when a school assistant principal found out he was gay. Forty-two years later, the school is issuing him an apology.

Gaylord sued the district after his termination and the case went all the way to the state Supreme Court, where they agreed with the school district’s decision and refused to hear his appeal.

It was announced this week that the school board president, Kurt Miller, will issue Gaylord a formal apology. It’s not totally clear what sparked the sudden guilt, but nonetheless, it matters.

“In retrospect, I guess I could have denied it, or refused to answer,” Gaylord told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2004. “But I figured that if it had gotten to the point where the assistant principal was visiting me at home, there wasn’t much possibility a denial would accomplish anything. I would do it all over again,” Gaylord said. “There were a lot of people who thought it was a losing battle. But it still advanced the cause for equal rights.”